Hermione and Harry together – Busy on a keyboard

With the right mix of curiosity and wisdom, this ambitious genius is busy re-creating or debugging world-class million-dollar apps already. But he is also busy creating world-class developers among his agegroup – right here in India. What drives this young wizard?

Saion Gupta was barely 12 years old when he worked towards the Guinness World Record title of ‘The youngest computer programmer (male)’. Accolades and crowns aside, he is already occupied working towards a new future of coding and coders. Let’s see the world of low-code, open-source, citizen-code, APIs and what’s next from the eyes of a prodigy. A chat with this Wunderkind who is happy about Guinness World Record but most excited about India shining in AI.

Hi Saion! How does it feel to achieve this feat? How hard or easy was it?

I am extremely thrilled and deeply humbled that my efforts paid off. It wasn’t easy achieving this feat as there were many instances where it was difficult to keep myself motivated—many issues arose while coding which wouldn’t solve for days and overcoming them was a challenge.

What spurred this idea? And what were the most exciting and challenging parts of this journey to get here?

My father got me started with coding. I just kept learning new technologies and doing new things on a daily basis which helped me to develop lots of apps, take coding workshops, pass LinkedIn assessments for various coding skills. All of these boosted my confidence and gave me the courage to apply for the record.

How important was the role of your parents and teachers in this achievement?

Both my parents inspired me in some way or the other to become a programmer. While my father helped me with attaining the knowledge of programming, my mother always gave me ideas and encouraged me to develop new apps.

You have worked on about 100 apps – which one is your favourite – and what’s your dream app – the one that you will make one day?

Out of the apps I have recreatedso far, Wordleis my favourite app, the original version of which was sold to New York Times for $1 million.Infact, I reported a bug/hack to the original creators of the app.

I aspire to be a 10x coder and likewise to help others to accomplish the coveted feat. With the mission to make India the world capital of 10x codersalong with my family have founded a company called 10xCoderKids. In future, we want to focus on developing apps precisely to achieve this objective.

 I also have a YouTube channel and regularly post coding tutorials to help others to learn coding for free and alsoprovide one-to-one online coding and robotics classes to kids in the age group of 8-16 years worldwide.

What do kids struggle with when they are learning programming? Any special advantage or constraint that Indian kids face?

Kids struggle with many things while programming. While some are not able to understand the concepts properly, other are not able to receive help immediately when they are programming new applications. There is a disconnect between the teacher and the student. Our country is a developing nation, and children from weaker sections or from rural areas don’t have much access to today’s technology.

What’s your favourite programming language/platform? What do you think of trends like no-code, low-code and citizen-code?

My favourite programming language is JavaScript. These are all amazing developments that are really helping to make technology more accessible to people across the board.

In particular, I think no-code and low-code platforms are incredibly exciting because they are allowing individuals and small businesses without a lot of programming experience to create powerful applications. This is something that was once only possible for large companies with ample resources and experienced programmers.

The trend of citizen-code is also really interesting because it shows that there is a growing number of non-professional developers who are using programming tools to build software solutions for themselves and their communities. This is a great example of the democratization of technology, and I believe it has the potential to really transform the way people think about programming and software development.

What do you think ofopen-source programming?

Open-source programming is a truly powerful force in the world of software development. By sharing source code openly, developers can collaborate and build upon each other's work in ways that were once impossible. This approach has led to the creation of many amazing software tools that are widely used today, and I think it will continue to drive innovation and progress in the years to come.

Have you heard of containerization and APIs – any thoughts, if so?

In my opinion, both containerization and APIs have played a significant role in revolutionizing software development and deployment. Containerization has made it easier for developers to package and deploy applications, while APIs have enabled developers to build more complex and interconnected software systems. These trends have contributed to driving innovation and lowering barriers to entry for new developers.

What has been your vision and experience with 10x coders?

I imagine 10x coders to be extremely well-conversant with all facets of ongoing and upcoming advancements on technological front and can drive innovation with ease.

How will being great at 10x coding help India?

Becoming proficient in coding and developing 10x coding skills can have several positive impacts on India, including job creation, innovation, digital transformation, and global competitiveness.

What’s most exciting for you – India shining in AI or quantum computing or robotics? Would you like it if a robot helped you with coding?

It will be very exciting to see India drive innovation in all three technologies. I am most excited about India shining in AI. AI has reached to an extreme level where you ask it a question and it will give you the correct answer in simple language. Quantum computing will change the paradigm of security with advancements in cryptography and robotics will take away a lot of human effort. In future, I see robots assisting in almost all routine tasks leaving humans to focus their efforts on more productive work.

Who is your favourite tech person? Favourite movie? Favourite sportsperson/sports/videogame/board-game?

My favourite tech person is Elon Musk. My favourite movie is Rocketry. My favourite sportsperson is Cristiano Ronaldo, My favourite sport to play and watch is cricket and chess and my favourite videogame is FIFA 23.

What would Saion be doing 10 years from now? What was he doing ten years back?

Saion ten years from now will be working for the welfare of the society and creating technology that nobody would have imagined of. Saion, ten years back, was a toddler and didn’t know what was ahead in his life.

Saion Gupta

By Pratima H

pratimah@cybermedia.co.in